DAVIS CUP.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 109, 10 May 1910, Page 3

DAVIS CUP.

NEW ZEALAND TENNIS ASSOCIATION. STATEMENT BY THE COMMITTEE The following is a resolution adopted by the Management Committee of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association :—: — "In view of the fact that the president of the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association has publicly criticised the action of the committee in regard to Davis Cup matters, and of the evident misunderstanding that exists in reference to the position, this committee deems it desirable to make the following statement setting forth the relative position of the Australasian Association and the New Zealand Association in regard to the forthcoming contest for the Davis Cup, and of the attitude taken by the committee in reference thereto. "The Davis Cup, as is well known, ■was presented by Mt. Dwight Davis for international competition in terms of certain rules drawn up by the donor and known as the regulations for th« International Lawn Tennis Championship. Under those rules Australia with New Zealand is one nation, and Australasia is at present the champion nation. The primary object of the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association, which is composed of the various State associations in Australia and the New Zealand Association is to arrange, sanction, regulate, and control international contests held in Australasia. The terms upon which the New Zealand Association should belong to the Australasian Association have been Tecently amicably settled, and a statement of those terms has already been forwarded to all the associations in New Zealand. One of the terms is that the contest for 1910 shall be held in New Zealand. "The net funds derived from these contests (after paying all expenses and the share of the profits which by the rules the challenging nation is to get) is retained by the Australasian Association, and is to be devoted solely to the purpose of defending or challenging for the cup. The New Zealand Association does not so long as it belongs to the Australasian Association obtain any portion of those funds. "The regulations for international competition provide that the governing organisation of the champion nation (which in this case is the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association) shall appoint a committee to manage the Davis Cup competition. The arrangement of the location of the contest rests with the committee of management so appointed. "As the next contest is to be held in New Zealand, the committee of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association believed that the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association would appoint a New Zealand Committee to manage the Davis Cup competition, and urged that body to make the appointment as soon as possible, as until tli at -was -done the New Zealand Association had no status, and could take no action in the matter of making arrangements for the holding of the competition. "Notwithstanding the representations made to it, the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association delayed making the appointment for some time, and when it did so, it, contrary to expectations, appointed itself as the committee of management, and did not officially notify the New Zealand Association that it had done so. The New Zealand Association only learnied that it had done so unofficiallyfrom an officer of the Australasian Association, and some time after the appointment was made. r'lnr 'ln the same manner only the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association learned at the eleventh hour that the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association, as the committee of management, proposed to decide the location of the contest at its annual meeting on the 23rd March, 1910, that the chief consideration that would influence it in deciding the matter was 'the gate,' and that our delegates would be expected to be posted in the matter. "A special meeting of the committee of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Associa.tion was immediately called for the 17 th March to decide what action it should take, and it then resolved upon the recommendation that was sent to the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association on the 17th March that in its opinion Wellington was the most suitable place for holding the competition. "Since the location has been decided upon, the committee of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association again urged the Davis Cup Committee to delegate its powers to a New Zealand committee, but it has decided not to do so, but to retain the management in its own hands. It has now appointed a sub-committee, consisting of the present members of the committee 'of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association, to carry out the required details under its supervision. "The committee of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association is not a subcommittee of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association, but is an executive body elected by and from the New Zpaland committee, with administrative power to transact all business and to decide all matters pertaining to the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association except matters of policy. "A matter of policy is one that involves the determination of a settled system or method of management in controlling the sport of lawn tennis in New Zealand. "The Davis Cup is an international contest, and the policy that determines the location of the Davis Cup must be fixed . by the committee of management of that cup, which is the Australasian Council. "That question lias been decided by the Australasian Association, which has determined that the contest shall be held in Wellington, upon a recommendation from the committee of the New Zealand Ltftrn Tennis Association, based mainly upon a consideration of the place where the largest attendance can be obtained. This committee considers that it was the proper body to make the recommendation. "The benefits to the sport of lawn tennis in New Zealand that will follow from the holding of the Davis Cup contest in New Zealand are the prominence and popularity which will be given to the sport, the opportunity that will be afforded to players of seeing first-class tennis played under the best conditions, and the education of the public in the possibilities of the game. "The committee of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association, in making its recommendation in the circumstances above detailed, that Wellington should, horn the fact of its geographical position, be the location of the contest, believed that by so doing it would afford the best opportunity to players and the public of the Dominion of witnessing the contest and of sharing in the benefits which it hopes will result from the contest being held in New Zealand. "The committee fully appreciated the valuable services rendered to the Champion Nation of Australasia by the New Zealand representative, Mr. A. Wilding, in the Davis Cup contests, but, notwithstanding, the committee felt that the interests of the competing nations, and of all players and followers of the sport in New Zealand was a first consideration, and would be best served if the contest took pla<:e in the centre of New Zealand. — Yours, etc.. "GEO. N. GOLDIE, "Hon. Secretary."